Chapter Twenty-Six: When the deed was done, he brushed off his sleeves and departed.

Shen Lian stood at ease in the distance, neither startled nor afraid, watching the toad spirit with unruffled calm. He had never heard of this so-called Nine-Headed King; and even if he had known it was a fearsome demon lord, it would not have shaken him in the least.

Too lazy for further words, he swept his wooden sword through the air. Sunlight seemed to gather upon its tip, and one could faintly feel a fierce heat emanating from it.

A青-hued glow flowed over the wooden blade, sealing away the scorching blaze.

A fireball appeared out of nowhere. With a tremor of the sword tip, it smashed straight toward the toad spirit.

The toad spirit had not expected Shen Lian to strike so abruptly. Fortunately, it had some cultivation and reacted with great speed, spewing a stream of purple venom from its mouth. The venom struck the fireball, turning it purple in an instant. Then, with a surge of violent air, it rolled back toward Shen Lian.

Around Shen Lian, an invisible force of vital energy gathered, as though he were shrouded in mist and clouds. The purple toxic flame burst apart within the haze, sending dust and smoke billowing outward.

Yet there was no cry of agony within.

Not far away, atop a great tree, Shen Lian gently set down the little girl and said with calm composure, "Don't be afraid."

He pointed his toes and, wooden sword in hand, shot through the air in a fierce thrust toward the toad spirit. Midair, a hissing sound suddenly rang out. It was the toad spirit's tongue, swift as lightning, leaving only a faint red blur.

An ordinary toad could snatch a passing insect from the air in less time than it took to blink; this toad demon had cultivated for more than a hundred years and could even speak human language. Even an average cultivator who had merely formed some power would be nothing more than food in its mouth.

But in Shen Lian's eyes, even this speed, astonishing as it was to ordinary sight, could still be seen clearly.

This breakthrough had not only fused the energy within him into one and allowed him to cultivate power; it had also begun transforming his mortal flesh and blood. In particular, after he had opened the hidden gates throughout his body, his control over himself had risen to a new level.

Even as he flew through the air in a rapid stabbing attack, he could still twist his waist as though performing a light and graceful sword dance.

With an impossible turn of the body, he evaded the tongue.

When the tongue whipped back again, Shen Lian thrust his wooden sword toward the toad spirit even faster.

Using talismanic patterns as the path of his sword, he drew upon the vital energy of heaven and earth at every turn to form spellcraft. Though not overwhelmingly powerful, its momentum was astonishing.

Lightning flickered in the air, dazzling the toad spirit's eyes. As a demon, it possessed an instinctive dread of thunder and lightning.

That moment of hesitation made the lightning flash all the more blinding.

A chill brushed its eyes. When it looked again, there was only boundless darkness.

The toad spirit knew its eyes had been blinded by Shen Lian.

Its senses spread outward. Wind flowed restlessly in all directions; every blade of grass and every tree and flower sent back clear impressions, but there was no trace of Shen Lian.

Its tongue lashed wildly through the empty air, guarding its body.

The toad spirit's ferocity surged. It simply charged toward the inner courtyard. Since it could not deal with Shen Lian, it might as well slaughter some mortals to vent the fury in its heart.

The instant it moved, it sensed a sharp and piercing sword aura.

It did not dodge. Instead it turned toward the direction of the sword aura, while its abdomen inflated and contracted at an inconceivable speed. A tremendous boom shook the small patch of ground, causing it to collapse inward.

A round sphere of light was spat from its mouth. In the movement of that instant, it obliterated the sword aura and continued onward.

From the tree, the little girl saw a strange scene: a tiny ball of light flying toward Shen Lian. At first it moved extremely fast, but with each successive tearing sound through the air, it slowed.

And the terrifying pressure it had carried at the beginning also began to weaken.

Shen Lian retreated continuously, casually sending out sword auras that struck the light sphere. No one knew how far he had been driven back before the sphere finally fell to the ground.

Though the process seemed long, in truth only a few breaths had passed.

The toad spirit could not understand how this human cultivator could circulate his power so quickly.

If Shen Lian could gather such strong power at will, then his divine abilities must be no small matter. Any formidable art would have been enough to deal with it; why make such a fuss?

Of course it did not know that Shen Lian was in fact something of a freak. Even before fully completing his inner elixir, the channels and apertures throughout his body had already been opened without obstruction.

He could call up power in the space of a breath, at a speed far beyond cultivators of the same level.

It was precisely this extraordinary speed of gathering power that allowed him to compose talismans or unleash sword auras with ease in real combat, always with something in reserve.

As the light sphere fell, the toad spirit's vigor sagged.

Then Shen Lian showed it no mercy, hurling one sword aura after another into its body until the toad spirit's life force was completely severed.

At last, a fire talisman burned away the toad's flesh and blood, leaving only the not-yet-fully-formed inner elixir, which Shen Lian collected. Taking it back to Azure Profound Sect might prove useful, and perhaps it could even earn him some merit.

The green smoke formed from the toad spirit's soul was, of course, extinguished by Shen Lian as well.

The toad's flesh was in fact a great tonic of vital energy, but at Shen Lian's present level of cultivation, absorbing the vital energy of heaven and earth was purer for him.

Besides, the toad spirit had eaten many people, which only deepened Shen Lian's disgust.

Flying Immortal Island could be said to have some enmity with him, and Shen Lian could not be bothered to meet these people, so he intended to leave.

Unexpectedly, the little girl grew anxious and leaped down from the tree. Shen Lian reacted instantly and caught her.

She clutched his robe and asked, "Big brother, can I cultivate with you?"

After all, she had come from Flying Immortal Island and knew a little about cultivation.

"I have not even achieved success in cultivation myself. How could I teach you?" Shen Lian did not put on a cold face before the child; instead, he gently set her down on the ground.

When the courtyard gate opened and people came out, the first to rush out, naturally, was the little girl's mother.

Shen Lian gave the little girl a soft smile and said, "Goodbye."

A breeze passed by. Shen Lian's figure grew fainter and fainter, until it vanished into the distance. Only the wreckage strewn across the ground and the collapsed pit in the earth remained, proof that something unusual had happened here.

The young man of the Xiao family, whose martial arts Shen Lian had previously crippled, saw his departing figure and recognized him. A surge of rage rose in his heart—not hatred, but jealousy. For if he had not been crippled, perhaps the cultivator walking away so freely would have been him, rather than himself now, reduced to a useless thing forced to hide among the crowd.

Then, as if he heard a voice, faint and elusive, neither fully present nor entirely absent, accompanied by laughter like that of a demon rising from the deepest reaches of the netherworld.

"Do you want to become stronger?"

Those few words carried endless temptation, and in his present state he could find no thought of refusal. Without the slightest hesitation, he said "yes," for the surrounding noise was so great that no one heard him.

After he agreed, the mysterious voice caused a thread of coolness to spread through his brow, as though something had drilled its way inside.

At the same time, no one noticed that a trace of blood-red light flashed in his eyes, and the aura about him became sinister and gloomy, as if he had suddenly become a different person.

Postscript: thanks to Little N and Battle Five Cats for the gifts.